US university to help develop IMU faculty
ISLAMABAD July 6: Colorado University will work very closely with the proposed Islamabad Media University (IMU) for its faculty development on a 10-year programme basis.
Colorado University (CU) is a state-funded university of the US. Thus, it will be a government-to-government collaboration and IMU is planning to start its short courses within next two months with the assistance of the CU.
This was the outcome of a meeting between Federal Information Minister Mohammad Ali Durrani and a delegation of Colorado University.
Mr Durrani said the university would be an excellent seat of learning offering education in mass communication, journalism, drama, music, graphics/animations and performing arts to students, journalists and media persons.
Minister of State for Information Tariq Azeem talking to Dawn claimed that as a result of an ‘open media policy’ dozens of new media channels, newspapers and radio stations had sprung up in a short span of time.
In this situation, he said, the need for a media university was more significant since there was no dedicated educational institute to provide media education at diploma, graduate and postgraduate levels while the journalist community and mass communication personnel were finding it difficult to seek admissions to foreign universities due to high cost of media education and the entry criteria, etc.
The IMU will be the regional hub of education in the field of media and cater to the needs for trained manpower for media in the region.
Short, mid and long-term strategies of media education will be launched to cater to the ever growing and changing needs of media.
He said the government was committed to extending all-out support to the project to make it a success.
The degree classes are expected to start next year. The work on a purpose-built campus shall start within this year.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/7/2007
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